Dong Cuong Temple – Impressive spiritual tourism destination

Culture

Dong Cuong Temple – Impressive spiritual tourism destination

Sunday, February 18, 2024

YBO - Located on the bank of the gentle Hong (Red) River in Ben Den village, Dong Cuong commune, Van Yen district, Dong Cuong Temple has long been famous as a sacred, solemn temple with great historical values, which has become a popular destination for many tourists on their New Year spiritual journey to pray for wealth and fortune.

The Mother Goddess procession ceremony across the river during the Dong Cuong Temple Festival attracts a large number of tourists.

The temple worships Mau Thuong Ngan, the second Mother Goddess in the Tam Phu Mother Goddesses worship ritual of Vietnamese people, along with the Ve quoc (national protector) God and national heroes who laid down their lives during struggles against foreign invaders.

On January 22, 2009, the temple was listed by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a national-level historical-cultural relic site. The Dong Cuong Temple Festival was recognised as a national intangible cultural heritage on January 16, 2023. Particularly, the UNESCO’s recognition of the worship of Tam Phu Mother Goddesses of Vietnamese people as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity has contributed to enhancing the values of the temple, making it more popular among visitors.

To create an impressive highlight for tourists during the festival, Dong Cuong Temple Festival in 2024 has been organised on a district scale, with careful preparations.

Dong Cuong Temple Festival is one of the festivals with a long history, combining many indigenous folk beliefs, which preserves traditional cultural values in the spiritual life of the Tay Khao people.

Rituals of the festival are held at Mau (Mother Goddess) Temple in accordance with traditional practices such as welcoming the monk to the temple, white buffalo offering ceremony, Chuc Van offering ceremony in front of the main temple door, incense offering ceremony, main worshiping ceremony, and a Mother Goddess procession ceremony.

Meanwhile, festive activities are diverse and imbued with cultural identities of ethnic groups, including stick pushing, tug of war, Vietnamese wrestling, cotton ball throwing, swinging, and boat racing. Besides, tourists and pilgrimages also have a chance to participate in other activities such as competing in ethnic sports, and shopping at rural market stalls.

Dong Cuong Temple Festival is the opening event for a series of spring festive events in the year of the Dragon in Van Yen district. The festival has become an important highlight of the district tourism, helping Van Yen lure visitors.

"Laughing” guava tree at Dong Cuong Mau Temple attracts tourists

"Laughing” guava tree at Dong Cuong Mau Temple

Located within the national historical and cultural relic site of Dong Cuong Mau (Mother Goddess) Temple, the guava tree that can "laugh" has made visitors curious.

The tree is about 3m high, with five large branches and a 4-m-wide canopy, small leaves with sturdy branches winding like an adoring dragon. It was planted on the left side of the tomb of the Mother Goddess.

Although it cannot make "laughing” sound, if someone lightly touches the tree, especially the intersections between trunk and branches, the leaves will vibrate as if they were laughing.

Locals have for long believed that as the tree grows in a spiritual space, it is as sensitive as people.

The "laughing” guava tree is also a must-see thing for visitors to the temple.

Thu Trang

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